Love Island 2018 will be ‘casting lesbian and gay contestants’ for the first time ever

LOVE Island is reportedly opening up the villa doors to gay and lesbian couples for the first time in 2018.

Bosses of the show are apparently keen to include the LGBT community in the show after coming under fire last year for featuring exclusively heterosexual couples.

Speaking to the , an insider said: "Love Island was undoubtedly the biggest reality show this year, it had everyone talking. Even people who weren't watching the show still heard about it.

"The main thing they came under fire for was sex on TV, which people have now started to accept, so come next series people won't really care about that.

"ITV want to increase the shock factor of the show and keep people talking, by having LGBT people included."

Bisexual contestants including Sophie Gradon and Katie Salmon have both previously featured on the show, however they weren't allowed to officially couple up with members of the same sex.

Instead they were told to pair up with a boy in a bid to win the £50,000 cash prize.

Despite this, the pair were seen hooking up on air regardless of their official partners.

The hit ITV2 reality show - on which sexy Brits have to pair up with each other in a Mallorcan villa - needs a whole new cohort of "vibrant singletons" for their summer series.